Nottingham Panthers will look to pull off an incredible comeback in the Challenge Cup when they go to Belfast Giants for their semi-final second leg on Wednesday night.

Trailing 5-1 from the first leg, Panthers need a massive turnaround to secure their place in the final against Sheffield Steelers or Cardiff Devils – the Steelers lead 6-2 from their opening clash.

Panthers are huge underdogs after a putting in a deeply frustrating performance against the Giants at the Motorpoint Arena.

They can at least look to relatively recent history for some inspiration having beaten Belfast in the 2014 final when they trailed 5-2 at the halfway mark before battling back in Nottingham to win on penalty shots.

The odds look even longer this time though considering Panthers are on the road and unable to find a consistent run of form, while the Giants are in the thick of the Elite League title race.

Head coach Corey Neilson is refusing to give up hope, but admits the cards will have to fall in his team’s favour.

“The challenge is that Belfast are a very good team. We’ll have to be at our very best and they’ll have to have an off night.”

Panthers have lost six of their last 10 games with a mixed bag of performances in that run.

Neilson does not believe they have had much luck or the benefit of favourable refereeing calls in that time, which he says is frustrating, but not unique to any team.

“Over the last run of games I think it’s safe to say we aren’t getting a whole lot of breaks or calls, which is frustrating,” he said.

“It’s the way the game goes at times.”

Panthers go into the game on the back of Sunday’s 3-0 win against Dundee Stars. They should arguably have beaten Sheffield Steelers the night before, but lost 5-4 after conceding with five seconds to go.

It was mixed night for goaltenders Michael Garnett and Patrick Galbraith in south Yorkshire, but Neilson was reluctant to heavily criticise two players who have done well this season.